History

"It was a place where writers, poets, painters, and sculptors met to capture the spirit of the age, the uniqueness of the moment, the beauty of nature, the old manor, and the romantic ruins of the old castle..."

(Eloise Beutelová, Oponice around 1880)

From the original stone structure, in the 16th and 17th centuries, a majestic residence of the old Hungarian noble Apponyi family arose. It combines the graceful curves of the Renaissance with the purity of Classicism, transitioning from a bright white color into the green oasis of the adjoining park with rare trees. Its nobility is enhanced inside by Prussian snow-white vaults resting on pinkish Spanish marble in corridors reminiscent of the Medici and Borgia family eras.

It is the only luxury historic hotel in Slovakia with four stars and a 17,000-volume Baroque library in Slovakia, boasting not only a rich history but also its "resurrection from the ashes of ruins" between 2007-2011.

The manor is located in a small Slovak village just north of the ancient city of Nitra. Around 800 residents live here, and it is a village rich not only in history with four historic buildings attracting visitors but also with a long tradition of grapevine cultivation. This vine was cultivated here according to documents as early as the 13th century, and the village coat of arms features a medieval-dressed man holding a large bunch of grapes.

The history of the castle, whose ruins stand out from the mountains above the village, dates far back. King Sigismund of Luxembourg frequently visited here and organized lavish fox hunts. For a time, the castle also belonged to the oligarch Matúš Čák Trenčiansky. In 1392, in exchange for the Čeklíske estate (Bernolákovo), the castle was acquired by the Pecz family, who took the village's name, Appony (today Oponice), as their family name and still use it in various parts of the world. The family lived in the castle until the 17th century, then rebuilt the stone building in the village into a manor and gradually added further wings. Finally, the last extension of the manor in 1846, which was the famous family library, gave the manor a U-shaped layout.

The Apponyis were a prominent Hungarian family. During the Enlightenment and the reign of Maria Theresa, they were among the most important and wealthiest families in Hungary. They excelled in the military, participated in battles against the Tatars (1241), Crusades, and fights against the Turks (1606). For their merits, they were elevated by Emperors Rudolf II and Charles VI to barons and counts. In the eighteenth, but especially in the nineteenth century, some family members excelled in high diplomacy, with Metternich holding them up as an example to others. The last member of this family in Oponice was Henrich Apponyi (1885-1935), who died without descendants, and after his death, the manor was bought by a completely different family, the Slezáks, to whom the manor and entire estate were nationalized in 1948.